Active Shooter Technology Can Hasten Police Response, Save Lives

When parents send their children off to school each morning, they expect to get them back safe and sound in the afternoon. However, the specter of a school shooting lingers in the minds of parents and school officials alike.

Active shooter situations are becoming increasingly common, with 142 school shootings in the United States since 2013, according to Everytown for Gun Safety. Both colleges and K-12 schools are looking for ways to protect students and staff in active shooter situations. In those crisis moments, shaving seconds off of police response time is crucial.

21st Century State & Local talked to four active shooter solution providers to understand what technology is available to schools and colleges and the importance of deploying technology before there is an incident.

Though the technologies are different, all seek to get police to the school as quickly as possible and provide police with potentially lifesaving location data.

COPsync911 uses teacher- and staff-driven school safety tools to help improve communication between law enforcement and schools and reduce law enforcement response times during a violent situation. CopSync CEO Ron Woessner discussed why schools need to make active shooter solutions a priority.

SST’s SecureCampus uses sensors, the cloud, and occasionally trained experts to detect gunshots and then notify the police. The sensors detect the acoustics of a gunshot, use infrared technology to confirm a shot was fired, and then use proprietary characteristics to verify a gunshot. Damaune Journey, vice president of security solutions for SST, explains SST’s Secure Campus solution.

Chris Connors, CEO of Shooter Detection Systems (SDS), stressed the importance of having zero false alerts with shot detection technology. SDS’s solution, dubbed the Guardian Indoor Active Shooter Detection System, boasts zero false alerts during its more than 16 million hours of use across the world. “It’s a major event when the sensor goes off, and we have to be right every time,” Connors said.

ShotPoint, from Databuoy, is happy to run in the background of existing security technologies, according to company president and founder Kathleen Griggs. The shot location technology is designed to run in the background of existing security solutions, making it easy to implement and deploy. Griggs explained that her company’s patented sensor mesh approach sets it apart from competitors.